Thread having properties of resistance to cutting

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a thread possessing properties of resistance to cutting, comprising at least one core thread ( 2 ) sheathed with at least one sheathing thread ( 3 ) consisting of continuous fibres or filaments, characterised in that the core thread ( 2 ) is a multifilament thread comprising from 50 to 1800 continuous glass filaments ( 4 ). The invention also concerns equipment for protecting against cutting produced from such a thread and a method of producing such equipment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to French Application No. 0306872, filed Jun. 6, 2003, which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The invention concerns a thread having properties of resistance to cutting, equipment for protecting against cutting, in particular a glove, produced from such a thread, and a method of producing such an item of equipment.

Glass filaments are known for having properties of resistance to cutting. This resistance can be defined with respect to the French and European standard NF EN 388, which concerns gloves for protection against mechanical risks. It was proposed, in the document FR-2 818 503, to manufacture a glove for protecting against cutting using a knitting of glass filaments each sheathed with one or more threads. Use is therefore made of a sheathed single-filament core thread which is knitted in order to form the glove. However, a single-filament core thread has too great a stiffness to allow comfortable use of the glove produced from such a thread.

It is known, from the documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,657, EP-1 180 555, US-2002/011062 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,476, threads having properties of resistance to cutting comprising a multifilament core thread comprising a plurality of continuous glass filaments. However, the number of glass filaments is not adjusted so that, at a given numbering, the thread provides a great flexibility and a great resistance to repeated flexions.

The invention aims to mitigate this drawback by proposing a thread having properties of resistance to cutting comprising one or more sheathed multifilament core thread, the core thread being a multifilament thread wherein the number of filaments is adjusted to provide a greater flexibility and a greater resistance. The glove produced from such a thread has characteristics of resistance to cutting in accordance with NF EN 388, in particular with regard to resistance to cutting by slicing, and flexibility adapted to its use, as well as a great durability. To this end, the invention concerns a thread having properties of resistance to cutting comprising at least one core thread sheathed with at least one sheathing thread consisting of continuous fibres or filaments, the core thread being a multifilament thread comprising 50 to 1800 continuous glass filaments whose diameter varies from 5 to 15 micrometers. Therefore, at a given numbering, the core thread is more flexible and more resistant to repeated flexions.

According to a second aspect, the invention concerns equipment for protecting against cutting such as a glove, comprising knitted fabric of at least one thread as described above. Such a glove is therefore comfortable and has an important durability.

According to a third aspect, the invention concerns a method of producing such protective equipment comprising the following steps:

-   -   sheathing at least one core thread with at least one sheathing         thread so as to produce a thread as described above;     -   knitting, in the form of protective equipment, at least one such         thread, for example on a straight-line knitting machine;     -   at least partially covering the knitted fabric with one or more         layers of covering, for example by soaking.         Other objects and advantages of the invention will emerge during         the following description given with reference to the         accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a thread according to the invention, this thread comprising three multifilament core threads sheathed with a sheathing thread.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a glove protecting against cutting produced from threads like the one in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The thread 1 according to the invention comprises one or more core threads 2 sheathed with one or more sheathing threads 3. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the thread 1 comprises three core threads 2 and one sheathing thread 3 for the purpose of simplification.

The core thread 2 is a multifilament thread comprising a plurality of continuous glass filaments 4. These filaments 4 may be twisted or not and the core thread 2 may have various numberings. It should be noted that, for equal numbering, a single filament thread is stiffer than a multifilament thread.

In example embodiments, the core thread 2 comprises from 50 to 1800 continuous glass filaments 4 with a diameter which may vary from 15 to 5 micrometres. In a particular example embodiment, the core thread 2 comprises 200 filaments with a diameter of 5 micrometres for a number of 110 dTex. In another example, the core thread comprises 200 filaments with a diameter of 7 micrometres with a number of 220 dTex.

It may be chosen to enrobe a single core thread 2 or several in order to increase the resistance to cutting of the thread 1. Where use is made of several core threads 2 sheathed together, it may be chosen to twist them together or not. The core threads 2 are sheathed with one or more sheathing threads 3, for example by throwing. The sheathing threads 3 can also be multifilament.

The continuous filaments or fibres of the sheathing threads are produced from a material from amongst polyamide, polyester, acrylic, cotton, polyethylene, polypropylene or meta and para aramid. It can also be envisaged to use filaments made from different materials according to the characteristics which it is wished to confer on the thread 1. In a particular embodiment, the core thread 2 is sheathed with two sheathing threads 3 made of polyester having each a number of 110 decitex.

The thread 1, as described above, makes it possible to produce equipment protecting against cutting. Such equipment is for example a protective glove 5, like the one depicted in FIG. 2. The glove 5 comprises a knitted fabric made from at least one thread 1.

This thread can also be knitted with other textile threads, for example with less expensive threads in order to reduce the production costs, whilst keeping a sufficient proportion of glass to ensure the required protection. These threads comprise a plurality of continuous filaments or fibres belonging to the family of polyamide, polyester, acrylic, cotton, polyethylene, polypropylene or meta and para aramid. The glove can comprise an at least partial covering on the knitted fabric. This covering can be a layer of PVC, natural rubber, polyurethane, polychloroprene or nitrile rubber. These materials can be used alone or in a mixture and the covering can comprise several layers.

It is possible to choose to cover the entire glove or only part thereof, such as for example the palm and the top surface of the fingers. The covering can be smooth or rough. When it is rough, the covering improves the hand grip of oily, wet or slippery objects. It can be envisaged terminating the glove with a wrist or sleeve, for example made from cotton, leather or any other material. It suffices to sew the wrist or sleeve to the glove.

The method of producing the protective equipment will now be described. The first step consists of sheathing at least one core thread 2 with at least one sheathing thread 3, for example by throwing, so as to produce a thread 1. At least one thread 1 is then knitted, with the required shape, for example on a straight-line knitting machine. The knitted fabric is at least partially covered with one or more layers of covering, for example by soaking in accordance with known methods. It can then be chosen to make the external layer of the covering rough, for example by powder coating, the spraying of granulates, chemical etching or mechanical etching.

A comparative table is shown below showing various compositions of knitting threads used for producing a protective glove and the corresponding cutting indices (these indices are defined in NF EN 388). GLOVE WEIGHT COMPOSITION OF PER CUT- THREADS OF THE % OF SURFACE TING CUTTING KNITTED FABRIC GLASS AREA LEVEL INDEX 1: Polyester and polyamide  0%  543 g/m² 3 5 fibres 2: Glass filaments,  6%  543 g/m² 4 15 polyester and polyamide fibres 3: Glass filaments, 12%  543 g/m² 5 25 polyester and polyamide fibres 4: Glass filaments, 18%  543 g/m² 5 118 polyester and polyamide fibres 5: Glass filaments 14%  796 g/m² 5 52.3 Polyester and polyamide fibres, polyethylene with high resistance to cutting 6: Glass fibres 12% 1774 g/m² 4 18.3 Polyester and polyamide (lining) fibres PVC covering It is seen with this table that, for equal weights per surface area, the resistance to cutting increases with the percentage of glass (cf. Composition 1 to Composition 4).

In Composition 5, the glass is associated with a fibre based on polyethylene having a high resistance to cutting. It can be seen that this association makes it possible to obtain a high index for resistance to cutting. Composition 6 concerns a glove coated with PVC, and the glass is therefore contained in the lining of this glove. When the proportion of glass in the lining is suitable, it is seen that the glove preserves good resistance to cutting after the PVC coating. 

1. A thread possessing properties of resistance to cutting, comprising at least one core thread sheathed with at least one sheathing thread including continuous fibres or filaments, wherein the core thread is a multifilament thread comprising from 50 to 1800 continuous glass filaments whose diameter varies from 5 to 15 micrometres.
 2. A thread according to claim 1, wherein the core thread has a numbering of 110 decitex and is a multifilament thread comprising 200 continuous glass filaments whose diameter is substantially 5 micrometres.
 3. A thread according to claim 1, wherein the sheathing thread comprises continuous fibres or filaments made from one or more materials belonging to the family of polyamide, polyester, acrylic, cotton, polyethylene, polypropylene or meta and para aramid.
 4. A thread according to claim 3, wherein the core thread is sheathed with two sheathing threads made of polyester, each having a number of 110 decitex.
 5. Protective equipment against cutting such as a glove, wherein it comprises a knitted fabric of at least one thread according to claim
 1. 6. Protective equipment according to claim 5, wherein the knitted fabric also comprises textile threads comprising a plurality of continuous fibres or filaments belonging to the family of polyamide, polyester, acrylic, cotton, polyethylene, polypropylene or meta and para aramid.
 7. Protective equipment according to claim 5, wherein it is at least partially covered with a layer of PVC, natural rubber, polyurethane, polychloroprene or nitrile rubber, used alone or in a mixture.
 8. Protective equipment according to claim 7, wherein the covering also comprises at least one additional layer.
 9. Protective equipment according to claim 7, wherein the external layer of the covering is rough.
 10. A method of producing protective equipment according to claim 7, further comprising: sheathing at least one core thread with at least one sheathing thread so as to produce a thread; knitting, in the form of protective equipment, at least one thread; and at least partially covering the knitted fabric with one or more layers of covering.
 11. A method of producing protective equipment according to claim 10, further comprising making the external layer of the covering rough by powder coating, spraying of granulates, chemical etching or mechanical etching. 